Over and out material reducer

ABSTRACT

A material reducer for coal, lignite, ore, stone, rock, oil shale and the like which employs rotary hammers, bars or the like not only to crush the material but also to propel the crushed material upwardly along a confined or partially confined path which discharges for example onto an output conveyor or directly to a screen or other processing equipment. The feed-in or input end of the crusher can be at a level sufficiently low to be supplied by the newer more mobile loading units such as front-end loaders, over-the-head loaders, and others. The center of gravity can also be substantially lowered, providing more stability without the normal cumbersome frame and support structure. Crushers constructed in accordance with the invention can be made far lighter and more mobile than existing mobile crushers with the same capacity. They make it possible for crushed material to be conveyed away by belt conveyor, and provide a practical way of eliminating the use of trucks, with their attendant noise, dust and pollution. Thus, it is not necessary to haul uncrushed minerals from the bottom of a mine or quarry to a stationary crusher at the surface.

United States Patent [191 Graf [ Oct. 28, 1975 OVER AND OUT MATERIAL REDUCER [75] Inventor: Carl R. Graf, Whitehall, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation,

Broomall, Pa.

22 Filed: Nov. 28, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 419,740

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 185,760, Oct. 1,

1971, abandoned.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,618,438 11/1952 Chrystal 241/189 R X 2,856,134 10/1958 Tormey 241/101 M X Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Howard N. Goldberg Attorney, Agent, or FirmPollock, Philpitt & Vande Sande [5 7] ABSTRACT A material reducer for coal,..lignite, ore, stone, rock, oil shale and the like which employs rotary hammers, bars or the like not only to crushthe material but also to propel the crushed material upwardly along a confined or partially confined path which discharges for example onto an output conveyor or directly to a screen or other processing equipment. The feed-in or input end of the crusher can be at a level sufficiently low to be supplied by the newer more mobile loading units such as front-end loaders, over-the-head loaders, and others. The center of gravity can also be substantially lowered, providing more stability without the normal cumbersome frame and support structure. Crushers constructed in accordance with the invention can be made far lighter and more mobile than existing mobile crushers with the same capacity. They make it possible for crushed material to be conveyed away by belt conveyor, and provide a practical way of eliminating the use of trucks, with their attendant noise, dust and pollution. Thus, it is not necessary to haul uncrushed minerals from the bottom of a mine or quarry to a stationary crusher at the surface.

3,062,461 1l/1962 Wetmore 241/191 X 3,202,367 8/1965 Nixon 241/186 R 3,202,368 8/1965 Nixon 241/189 R 3,455,517 7/1969 Gilbert 241/189 R 3,516,613 6/1970 Gilbert 241/189 R 3,627,212 12/1971 Stanton 241/194 X US. Patent Oct. 28,1975

HG! PRIOR ART 1 OVER AND OUT MATERIAL REDUCER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to crusher apparatus and methods. These are especially useful for reducing ore, rock, stone, and the like. In mining or extraction, random size pieces of mineral material are produced, some too large to be carried out of the mine or quarry on conveyor belts of practical and economical width. Bucket or skiff conveyors have been tried, but have been expensive to build, operate and maintain.

Thus, motor trucks have been used to carry uncrushed minerals from the bottom of mines or quarries to a distant or upper surface for crushing. The trucks are often noisy polluters which consume much capital and operating expense, especially when the roadway is icy, wet or muddy.

For various reasons, including perhaps the desire to provide reversible hammer rotation and design symmetry, and/or perhaps due to inertia of thought in the art, the massive crushers most commonly used heretofore in the crushing of large chunks of heavy minerals have included a top inlet and bottom outlet. Positioning a conveyor belt below such a crusher to receive crushed material from the outlet involves elevating the crusher above ground on heavy supporting framework, or constructing a trench beneath it. This can raise the inlet to a difficult or prohibitive height for conventional mobile loaders or loading equipment, and/or makes the crusher considerably less mobile or less stable and more expensive to install.

In principle, mineral extraction costs can be reduced by crushing the large chunks to a convenient size in the quarry or at the mine face, and then carrying them to the surface by belt conveyors of practical size and width. However, under many circumstances, the above-described problems and the ponderosity and expense of available mobile crushers frustrate the use of this money-saving procedure.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive crusher which makes it unnecessary to truck mineral materials from the bottom of a mine or quarry.

Another object of the invention is to provide a crusher machine which effectively performs the necessary functions of far heavier and more expensive mobile crushers heretofore used.

Still another object is to provide crushing apparatus which can be conveniently operated in a mine or quarry.

Yet another object is to provide a crusher which can be discharged directly to a conveyor, screen, or other transport and processing equipment and yet requires no high elevating framework or subjacent trench.

A still further object is to provide machinery for crushing mineral materials which can be discharged directly to a con eyor, screen, or the like and yet can be readily supported in a manner giving it good stability against tipping.

A further object is to provide crushing means which can be loaded directly by mobile loaders such as frontend or over-the-head loaders.

Another object is to provide crushing apparatus which can itself be readily constructed in a mobile form which is relatively stable against tipping, is relatively simple and light in weight, and yet provides a convenient discharge.

Another object is the provision of crusher machines having the aforesaid features which may be used to advantage in the crushing of mined coal or ore of a type or types not excessively hard, and particularly in the crushing of coal or limestone.

Yet another object is to provide a method of impact crushing mineral materials which can significantly reduce problems heretofore associated with the transport of mineral materials from the floor or face of a mine or quarry.

Upon consideration of the summary and the various embodiments of the invention described below, it will be apparent that the invention can be embodied in forms which attain some or all of the above objects. Moreover, additional objects will occur to those skilled in the art. In any event, the practice of the present invention offers various significant advantages.

With the aid of the drawings described below, a few illustrative embodiments of the apparatus and the method of the present invention will now be described. A person skilled in the art will readily recognize that other embodiments are possible, and that the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a prior art system showing a truck being used at the floor of the mine or quarry for transporting the uncrushed ore or other material to an upper level where a stationary crushing machine is located.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the manner in which a crusher machine according to the present invention may be employed on the floor or face of the mine or quarry to receive material supplied to it as by a loading machine and to project the crushed material upwardly and outwardly on to an output conveyor system or other processing equipment.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of one form of crushing machine according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system commonly used heretofore in the mining of coal or ore for the quarrying of rock and stone. As there illustrated, trucks such as truck 10 on the floor or face 12 of the mine or quarry are loaded, as by steam shovel 14 or front-end or other loaders, and the uncrushed ore, rock or other material is generally carried by the trucks up ramps (not shown) to an upper level at which a stationary crushing machine 15 is installed. The problems of such a system have been discussed above.

In FIG. 2, a crusher machine 23 according to the present invention is shown being loaded by an over-thehead loader 16. The crushing machine 23 rests on the floor of the mine or quarry and its input opening 121 is sufficiently low to accept the discharge from the loader. The loader may feed an input conveyor. This conveyor is not essential, but does permit controlling the mass feed rate to the crusher in a predetermined range or at least provides a more controlled feed than where the driver of loader l6 sporadically discharges complete loads directly into the crusher 23.

As seen in FIG. 2, the crushed output of the crushing machine is delivered at 122 at a level sufficiently high above ground to allow the crushed material to be dropped onto an output conveyor belt 40. A belt conveyor system such as 40, 41, 42 can now easily convey crushed material from the floor of the mine or quarry to an upper level. The crusher 23 of FIG. 2 is disclosed in greater detail in FIG. 3.

The preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3 comprises a rotor 51 which has a rotor shaft 11 and material impacting means 123. The latter may be any suitable material impacting means includinng for instance a cage mill rotor or a rotor 51 having a plurality of rotor discs 7, hammer shafts 8 and pivotable hammer means 123 as shown in the drawings. Rotor 51 is joumalled in suitable bearing means (not shown) and is mounted for rotation within rotor housing 13. This housing includes or communicates with grate means 50 for receiving material 15 flung off by rotor 51.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rotor housing is constructed in a portable, foundationless form, mounted on any suitable transport means 6. This may be a skid means, as shown in the drawing, or wheels, crawler tracks or any other suitable transport means.

Housing 13 includes wall means. This will normally include side wall means 26 and front, bottom and back wall means generally indicated by reference numberal 60, extending adjacent the bottom and at least a portion of the up-running portion 21 and the downrunning portion 9 of rotor 51. It will be noted that the front, bottom and back wall means 60 prevents discharge of material from the bottom 5 of the rotor.

An enclosed chamber 23A is also provided. It encloses and stands in direct communication with the upper portion 4 of the rotor to provide an open space, meaning a space immediately above the rotor sufficiently large for the material to fly away from the rotor in free flight and sufficiently exposed to the rotor to permit the impacting means to act on both incoming material and material rebounding at random angles from various locations in the chamber. The inlet means 121, which may for instance comprise an extension of side wall 26 and roof 27 of enclosed chamber 23A, along with a lower inlet wall or ramp 29, is positioned adjacent the up-running portion of rotor 51 and in communication with said enclosed chamber. Preferably, inlet means 121 is positioned at least partly above, and preferably wholly above rotor shaft 11.

Apertured particle sizing means, which may be a grate 50, including a screen, or other means having openings to pass smaller particles and reject larger particles is provided in or in communication with rotor housing 23. It extends outwardly, e.g. upwardly, from the rotor and is in communication with the enclosed chamber 23A. The grate is normally disposed at least partly above the top 36 of the rotor and preferably entirely above rotor shaft 11. In this preferred embodiment, the grate is in position to discharge grate rejects to both approaching hammers 37 and departing hammers 38 on the rotor. In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, the working or upper part 4 of rotor 51 is visible along a straight line of sight through the openings in the grate and through enclosed chamber 23A. When the inlet is located on the opposite side of chamber 23A from grate 50, the inlet can be situated for convenient loading. When the inlet is visible along a straight line of sight through the grate, material may be projected directly to the grate upon initial encounter with the rotor.

The wall means 60, which have been discussed above, may, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, define an enclosed path following the direction of rotation of the rotor 51 and extending away from grate 50 around the bottom of the rotor and back to enclosed chamber 23A. Grate rejects are thus passed around beneath the rotor and back into the enclosed chamber.

The wall means 60, as shown in FIG. 3 is a curved imperforate wall means. By imperforate, it is meant that the surface is regular or irregular, but is for the most part devoid of through holes; for instance, if the surface is in the form of a plate punched with holes, this plate will normally be backed up by a blind plate which closes off all or most of the holes. On the other hand, the impact surface may be provided by filling the bottom of an enlarged housing with crushed mineral material, such as the material which is crushed in said apparatus, until the level of said crushed material reaches a level slightly below but adjacent to the circle defined by the rotating periphery of the rotor, e.g. a hammer circle.

In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, the wall means can be an impact surface which defines the outer perimeter of a zone of rotor-feed material-impact surface interreaction subtending an arc in said impactor circle which includes the lowest point in said impact circle and extends upwardly on either side of said point. In this zone, as a result of collisions with the hammers 123 and the impact surface of wall means 60, rejects from grate 50 and any material which by chance passes from the top of the rotor to the bottom of the rotor without first being flung at the grate 50 are comminuted and recirculated to the top of chamber 23A where they are flung at grate 50. In the case of a rotor 51 having several circles of hammers or other impact members, there may be several of such zones in which the zones themselves and/or the hammer circles may have different diameters or be physically separated from one another by members intermeshing with laterally adjacent impact members.

It is also preferred that the back wall means 60a of wall means 60 be inclined towards the grate 50. Under appropriate conditions, such as for example where the grate bars are closely spaced and it is desired to reduce recirculated material as much as possible before it reaches the grate, the wall means 60a may be angled for directing most of the impacted material from the rotor more or less directly towards roof 27 of enclosed chamber 23A. This will result in a certain amount of material rebounding from the roof back towards the rotor for additional impact and reduction before the material goes to the grate. Angling the wall means 60a to direct most of the impacted material from the rotor directly at the grate lessens the numbers of such rebounds and additional impacts. In this manner, the amount of fines produced from a soft material can be controlled.

The apparatus also includes an energy absorbing surface 46 for receiving material flung off of rotor 51 and through grate 50. This energy absorbing surface is disposed in or is part of duct means 24 extending downstream of the grate, e.g. on the opposite side from the rotor. This energy absorbing means is preferably loworking part of the rotor.

The outlet means 122 provide an opening 44 or point of discharge from the apparatus above the bottom of the hammer circle. As previously indicated, this discharge maydirectly feed a conveyor 40, classifying screen or.other apparatus. Because of the location of this discharge point, which is made possible by various of the positional relationships of the elements discussed above, the apparatus may for instance be conveniently and portably situated at the floor of a quarry without an elevated framework and directly feed, for instance, a conveyor, without the necessity of placing the conveyor in a pit. The advantages of this capability from the standpoint of the quarry operators can be readily demonstrated.

In the operation of the machine of FIG. 3, uncrushed ore or rock is delivered into the machine at the input 121 and in addition to elevating the discharge point 122 above ground, the type of crusher shown in FIG. 3, by reason of the screen bars 50, may be used to provide a relatively uniform size of material. The material fed into the hammer circle is thrown by the rapidly rotating hammers 123 upwardly against or through a set of screen bars 50. If the body of material is too large to pass through the screen bars, it drops down into the hammer circle where it is hit repeatedly by the rapidly rotating hammers and then again thrown upwardly against and through the screen bars, and out the discharge nozzle 122 on to the output conveyor belt 40.

The foregoing are but illustrative embodiments of the invention and are not given by way of limitation. Accordingly, it will be evident that many changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In crusher apparatus comprising a rotor including a rotor shaft and material impacting means and a rotor housing, the improvement characterized in that:

a. said housing includes imperforate wall means for enclosing the lower portion of said rotor and preventing discharge of material from the bottom of said housing;

b. an enclosed chamber encloses and directly communicates with the upper portion of said rotor to provide an open area immediately above said rotor;

c. inlet means are provided adjacent the up-running portion of said rotor and in communication with said enclosed chamber;

d. sizing means are provided adjacent the downrunning portion of said rotor including openings for passing from said housing small particles flung off by said rotor and rejecting back to said rotor large particles flung off by said rotor, said sizing means extending outwardly from said rotor in operative connection with said rotor housing and at least partly above the top of said rotor;

e. an energy absorbing member is provided for receiving said material passing through said sizing means, said energy absorbing member being disposed in duct means extending downstream of said sizing means; and

f. outlet means is provided including an outlet opening above the bottom of said housing in operative connection with said duct means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said material impacting means is a rotor including rotor discs,

hammer shafts and pivotable hammers mounted on said hammer shafts.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said rotor housing is a portable, foundationless housing mounted on transport means. l

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein said transport means is a skid means.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means of said housing include side wallmeans and front, bottom and back wall means extending adjacent the bottom and at least a portion of said upand down-running portions of said rotor.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means includes back wall means inclined toward said sizing means.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means defines an enclosed path for particles rejected by said sizing means, said enclosed path following the direction of rotation of said rotor away from said sizing means and back to said enclosed chamber.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means is positioned at least partly above said rotor shaft.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means include an inlet opening positioned entirely above said rotor shaft.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sizing means is a grate means extending upwardly from said rotor.

11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sizing means is disposed entirely above the top of the rotor shaft.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sizing means is disposed in position to discharge rejected particles to both approaching and departing hammers of the rotor.

13. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the working portion of said rotor is visible along a straight line of sight through said openings in said particle sizing means.

14. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means is visible along a straight line of sight through said particle sizing means.

15. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said energy absorbing member is located on a line of sight through said particle sizing means from the working portion of the rotor.

16. In crusher apparatus comprising a rotor including a rotor shaft and pivotable hammer means rotating in a hammer circle and a rotor housing in operative connection with grate means for passing from said housing small particles flung off by said rotor and rejecting back to said rotor large particles flung off by said rotor, the improvement characterized in that:

a. said rotor housing is a portable, foundationless housing mounted on transport means;

b. said housing includes imperforate wall means, in-

cluding side wall means and front, bottom and back wall means extending adjacent the bottom and at least a portion of the up and downrunning portions of said rotor whereby discharge from the bottom of said housing is prevented and whereby recirculation of at least a portion of said particles rejected by said grate is caused by said hammer means;

. an enclosed chamber encloses and is in direct communication with the upper portion of said rotor for material passed through said grate, and is disposed in duct means extending downstream of the grate; and g. the outlet means from said duct is disposed above the bottom of said hammer circle. 17. Apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said back wall means is shaped to direct material rejected by the grate and recirculated by said rotor, back toward said grate. 

1. In crusher apparatus comprising a rotor including a rotor shaft and material impacting means and a rotor housing, the improvement characterized in that: a. said housing includes imperforate wall means for enclosing the lower portion of said rotor and preventing discharge of material from the bottom of said housing; b. an enclosed chamber encloses and directly communicates with the upper portion of said rotor to provide an open area immediately above said rotor; c. inlet means are provided adjacent the up-running portion of said rotor and in communication with said enclosed chamber; d. sizing means are provided adjacent the down-running portion of said rotor including openings for passing from said housing small particles flung off by said rotor and rejecting back to said rotor large particles flung off by said rotor, said sizing means extending outwardly from said rotor in operative connection with said rotor housing and at least partly above the top of said rotor; e. an energy absorbing member is provided for receiving said material passing through said sizing means, said energy absorbing member being disposed in duct means extending downstream of said sizing means; and f. outlet means is provided including an outlet opening above the bottom of said housing in operative connection with said duct means.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said material impacting means is a rotor including rotor discs, hammer shafts and pivotable hammers mounted on said hammer shafts.
 3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said rotor housing is a portable, foundationless housing mounted on transport means.
 4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein said transport means is a skid means.
 5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means of said housing include side wall means and front, bottom and back wall means extending adjacent the bottom and at least a portion of said up- and down-running portions of said rotor.
 6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means includes back wall means inclined toward said sizing means.
 7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said imperforate wall means defines an enclosed path for particles rejected by said sizing means, said enclosed path following the direction of rotation of said rotor away from said sizing means and back to said enclosed chamber.
 8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means is positioned at least partly above said rotor shaft.
 9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means include an inlet opening positioned entirely above said rotor shaft.
 10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sizing means is a grate means extending upwardly from said rotor.
 11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sizing means is disposed entirely above the top of the rotor shaft.
 12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 whereiN said sizing means is disposed in position to discharge rejected particles to both approaching and departing hammers of the rotor.
 13. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the working portion of said rotor is visible along a straight line of sight through said openings in said particle sizing means.
 14. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inlet means is visible along a straight line of sight through said particle sizing means.
 15. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said energy absorbing member is located on a line of sight through said particle sizing means from the working portion of the rotor.
 16. In crusher apparatus comprising a rotor including a rotor shaft and pivotable hammer means rotating in a hammer circle and a rotor housing in operative connection with grate means for passing from said housing small particles flung off by said rotor and rejecting back to said rotor large particles flung off by said rotor, the improvement characterized in that: a. said rotor housing is a portable, foundationless housing mounted on transport means; b. said housing includes imperforate wall means, including side wall means and front, bottom and back wall means extending adjacent the bottom and at least a portion of the up and down-running portions of said rotor whereby discharge from the bottom of said housing is prevented and whereby recirculation of at least a portion of said particles rejected by said grate is caused by said hammer means; c. an enclosed chamber encloses and is in direct communication with the upper portion of said rotor for providing an open area of wall-free space immediately above said rotor; d. inlet means is positioned above said rotor shaft, adjacent said up-running portion of said rotor and in communication with said enclosed chamber; e. said grate means extends upwardly from said rotor in communication with said enclosed chamber and is disposed at least partly above the top of said rotor in position to reject large particles to both approaching and departing hammers of said rotor; f. energy absorbing means is positioned for receiving material passed through said grate, and is disposed in duct means extending downstream of the grate; and g. the outlet means from said duct is disposed above the bottom of said hammer circle.
 17. Apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said back wall means is shaped to direct material rejected by the grate and recirculated by said rotor, back toward said grate. 